Country Profile: Italy

15, 2014

Our sixth Country Profile is dedicated to Italy, where efforts to reduce the risk and impact of pesticides can be traced back almost 40 years. Italy's application of the 'Pesticides Package' regulations relies heavily on the country's 20 regions and two autonomous provinces for introducing IPM practices appropriate for that area's specific crops.

Federica Piccolo, a consultant at CNR (Italy's National Research Council) and Andrew Lewer, long-term ENDURE contributor, provide an overview of a recent publication [1] and Italy's National Action Plan [2].

IPM over the past 40 years

Italian agriculture is notable for its diversity, with the country's broad range of pedo-climatic and social conditions resulting in the cultivation of a wide variety of crops. Indeed, the European Union's 2007 Farm Structure Survey [3] revealed the existence of some 1.4 million Italian agricultural holdings of above a minimum size (measured by the EU as one European size unit). With the utilised agricultural area (UAA) of these farms totalling 12.5 million hectares, the average holding measured nine hectares. Of the total UAA, just over one half was arable land (used for the production of cereals, forage, fresh vegetables and industrial crops in order of descending importance), while roughly one quarter was permanent pasture and meadows, and some 2.2m hectares was dedicated to permanent crops such as olives, grapes and fruit.

According to the Italian Constitution, each of the country's 20 regions and two autonomous provinces is responsible for the governance of agricultural matters, while the Ministry of Agriculture retains jurisdiction on general agricultural policy and the coordination of regional policies. Within this framework, several Italian regions began to optimise crop protection strategies to reduce the risk and impact of pesticides on human health and the environment from the late 1970s. An innovative approach to crop protection was devised through specific research programmes, the involvement of farmers and financial support from the European Union.

In 1986, the Ministry of Agriculture initiated a national plan for Integrated Pest Management (IPM). However, a turning point for the implementation of IPM came in 1997 with the ratification of the agro-environmental measures (Reg. EEC no. 2078/92) which defined the principles and general criteria to be used in the implementation of IPM. This regulation made funds available to farmers who implemented IPM through crop-specific guidelines, which were to be developed by the regions. Simultaneously, the National IPM Committee was launched with the twin aims of updating general and crop-specific national guidelines and guaranteeing that the regional application of IPM would respect the defined IPM principles and criteria.

In 2011 a national quality system was instituted (law no. 4 of 3 February 2011 'Provisions relating to labelling and quality food'). The aim of the national quality system is to provide IPM products with a national trademark, which can increase their value in both domestic and foreign markets.

Since the late 1990s, the level of participation in IPM programmes has varied in relation to the subsidies available, the regions involved and the type of crop. Overall, it is estimated that IPM has spread progressively and is used on up to 2 million hectares of agricultural land, i.e. about 15% of the total UAA. High implementation has been obtained for horticultural crops and orchards, where pesticide inputs are very high.

In the horticultural and fruit sector, the IPM national guidelines and regional regulations have become a point of reference for the large-scale retail trade. The producers’ associations have promoted their own trademarks, with a moderate use of the collective trademarks proposed by the regional or national authorities. IPM products are often considered a prerequisite, and therefore are more easily marketed. Consequently the IPM production system does not target consumers, who for the most part remain unaware of its existence, but it is fundamental in the trade relations between producers’ associations and buyers. Similarly, wineries prefer to use IPM standards as a commercial lever for their buyers rather than for the end consumers.

The promotion of IPM products is rather limited in the commodities sector, though the major pasta producers have recently been favouring supply chain agreements in which the standard required is in line with that provided by IPM requirements.

Currently several regional information events for farmers and advisers are taking places all over Italy. The National Action Plan (NAP, see below for more details) began to be enforced in northern regions during 2014 and is expected to be implemented in most central and southern regions from the start of 2015.

National IPM guidelines were defined for the first time by the National IPM Committee in 2007 and are updated annually. Regions may propose technical solutions which differ from the national guidelines to solve specific local problems, but these solutions must be supported by experimental results, and be approved by the National IPM Committee. The national guidelines are composed of general guidelines and technical guidelines for most crops in Italian agriculture. The general IPM guidelines provide criteria, agronomic solutions and strategies to be adopted for crop protection so as to reduce the impact on the environment and humans and to obtain cost-effective production. They regard in particular:

Seed treatment and plant propagation material

Limitations and suggestions relating to the use of plant protection products

Use of traps

Agronomic practices and tools

Pre-emergence measures

The use of pesticides against emergency pest problems is also considered.

The crop-specific IPM guidelines cover 121 crops (for example, 17 fruits, wine and table grapes, four Liliaceae, 28 Cucurbitaceae, six Solanaceae, 10 legumes, seven protected fresh vegetable crops, 17 arable crops, 12 seed crops). Each guideline contains agronomic and chemical criteria for pest control as well as compulsory advice and limitations. They consider the crop protection issues for each individual crop taking into account monitoring methods and forecasting models, thresholds of hazard and risk for the crop, pest control strategies, utilisable pesticides, and their limitations for environmental protection and minimisation of residues in food products.

The current legislative situation for IPM

The National Action Plan (Decree of 22 January 2014) implements the new EU Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides (2009/128/EC). The National Action Plan (NAP) aims to guide, monitor and ensure a process of change in the use of plant protection products towards solutions with lower impact on environmental and human health, with particular reference to agronomic practices for the prevention and/or suppression of harmful organisms, as in Annex III of the legislative Decree no. 150/2012. The NAP also aims at reducing the impact of pesticides in areas frequented by bystanders, such as urban areas, roads, railways, gardens, schools and play areas.

Pre-emergence herbicide in band application during sowing in maize. Photograph: V.P. Vasileiadis

In line with the content of the Directive 2009/128/EC and of Legislative Decree no. 150/2012, the NAP aims to achieve the following general objectives, in order to reduce the risks associated with the use of plant protection products:

To reduce the risks and impacts of pesticides on human health, the environment and biodiversity.

To promote the implementation of IPM, organic farming and other alternative approaches.

To protect the users of plant protection products and the affected population.

To protect consumers and the aquatic environment and drinking water.

To preserve biodiversity and protect ecosystems.

Toward this end, the NAP's priorities are to:

Ensure a comprehensive and systematic approach to education on the risks associated with the use of plant protection products.

Provide accurate information to the public about the potential risks associated with the use of plant protection products.

Ensure comprehensive and systematic monitoring, adjustment and maintenance of sprayers.

Foresee a ban on aerial spraying, unless there are exceptions in specific cases.

Foresee specific measures to protect areas of high environmental value and measures to protect the aquatic environment.

Foresee that the handling, storage and disposal of pesticides and their containers is properly executed.

Foresee crop protection with low inputs of plant protection products in order to maintain a high level of biodiversity and the protection of biotic plants, focusing on the appropriate agricultural techniques.

Foresee an increase in arable land cultivated organically in accordance with Regulation (EC) 834/07 and voluntary IPM (Act no. 4 of 3 February 2011).

Identify useful indicators to measure the impact of the actions taken within the NAP and to promote a wide dissemination of the results of monitoring

In practical terms, the Pesticides Package and the NAP represent for IPM in Italy a rational prosecution of the approach adopted since the 1990s
, as the principles and criteria of Decision EU 3864/96 are substantially those described in annex III of Directive 128/09.

The comparative assessment in the evaluation of pesticides and the criteria adopted in Decision 3864/96 are very similar to those in annex II of Regulation 1107/09 (points 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, and 4) for the evaluation of products that are candidates for substitution. For these reasons the NAP introduces two levels of IPM
, a mandatory and a voluntary one.

Mechanical weeding (hoeing) in maize. Photograph: V.P. Vasileiadis)

Mandatory IPM

This part corresponds to a basic IPM level, with the application of the objectives listed in annex III of the Directive. It foresees:

The application of preventive and monitoring techniques for infestations, infections and pests.

The biological control of parasites.

The utilisation of suitable cultivation practices.

The use of the pesticide less harmful for human and environmental health among those available for the same purpose.

The compulsory level keeps the obligations on farmers to a reasonable level and requires farmers to generally conform to the eight principles of IPM. Farmers must demonstrate they have access to and use those tools such as manuals and models made available at the national, regional and local levels. On the other hand, the application of mandatory IPM entails a huge effort by the regions and autonomous provinces to develop information services for farmers, such as meteorological networks, pest monitoring, forecasting models and territorial bulletins to support farmers in the application of the IPM principles and criteria. In particular, it is planned that pest monitoring, forecasting models and Decision Support Systems will become widely available. One of the first instruments made available by Region Emilia Romagna and up-taken also by other regions, is a manual for the use of low-impact techniques and methods [4].

Voluntary level

Voluntary IPM aims to increase, over the next five years, the general implementation of the national and regional guidelines. Priority is being given to a reduction in the use of plant protection products based on active substances identified as candidates for substitution, as reported in Annex II of Regulation (EC) 1107/09.The voluntary level is differentiated into:

Advanced IPM
with the application of specific guidelines drafted according to the eight general principles of IPM of the Directive and to the Regulation's cut-off criteria and list of candidates for substitution. These guidelines indicate, for example, rotations, farm and/or territorial monitoring, application of treatment thresholds, limitations in the choice of pesticides (in other words those less hazardous for users, the environment, bystanders, and consumers), and number of treatments. In October 2013, such official IPM guidelines were available for more than 120 crops.

Organic farming
, with the objective of doubling by 2020 the national UAA cultivated according to the organic methods described in Regulation (EC) 834/2007.

See also the adoption of the
National Action Plan (Decree of 22 January 2014) which concerns the Actuation of the Directive 2009/128/CE/, which constitutes a framework for the Communitarian action for the sustainable use of pesticides.

IPM guidelines (general and 119 crop-specific guidelines) are available on the rural network site of the Ministry of Agriculture:
Rete Rurale Nazionale 2012